Particle Fever - Quest Baits

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Bait Quest Shaun Harrison 

S H A U N H A R R I S O N 

BAIT QUEST 

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Part 2 

Particle Fever 

Last month’s issue saw me visiting the different types of particle baits 

which have brought me success over the years. There are many other 

particles in regular use around the country, but, as always, I choose 

only to write about the things I have experience of, rather than give you 

second-hand information from someone else. 

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finished Part One with the comment: 

Okay so the carp’s weights are going to suffer 

if everyone starts using particles all through 

the summer months. But, do you know what The 

winter fishing would be far better after a year of 

particle munching rather than pigging out on high 

fat, high oil content fishmeal pellets and boilies. 

We need to be very careful not to mistake 

unhealthy weight gains in carp with healthy 

growth gains. So many times I hear the carp at 

such and such a lake are absolutely piling on the 

weight, but this isn’t necessarily a good thing. A 

lot of this weight gain is down to excessive fats 

and oil in the bait offered by us, the anglers. We 

owe it to our fish to look after their insides as well 

as their outer body tissue. Without the carp we 

don’t have this magical pastime. Properly cooked 

ms vegetable particle baits, used in conjunction with 

some of the less healthy options we give the fish, 

help to balance their artificial diet a little more. 

160gms Remember the koi carp keepers. Their carp, are 

simply prettily coloured cyprinus carpio, the 

very 150gms same fish we fish for, but koi carp keepers 

120gms 

wouldn’t dream 140gms of piling a load of high-oil 

130gms 

content halibut or trout pellets into their pools. 

Koi, when kept properly, are in the absolute peak 

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of health. Carp don’t need all this excess oil and 

fat, just as we humans don’t. 

Sorry, I went off on a bit of one there. 

Let me get back to this particle lark and 

how to make a humble bean or pea just 

that little bit more interesting. 

“ 

The number of fish I 

seemed to be able to 

hold on the tweaked 

bait as opposed to 

what the anglers 

using straight hemp 

achieved got rather 

” 

embarrassing really 

It surprises me how many anglers are happy 

to simply cook their particle baits in plain old 

tap water and use them in this way when, in fact, 

there are so many small things you could add to 

enhance the bait’s performance. 

Just as with our own food, a little salt or a little 

gravy or sauce can completely transform a meal 

from simply being food to something totally 

delicious. The same thing can be said for all baits. 

Salt, gravy and cooking 

sauces totally transform 

particle baits. 

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Just one extra ingredient can make so much 

difference. On the other hand, too much and too 

many ingredients can totally ruin a bait. It is a 

fine dividing line. I often tell people I could make 

our range of boilies look and smell the same but 

cost half the price. It is all down to the taste, the 

taste is the all-important thing. Skimping on the 

odd expensive ingredient can turn an excellent 

bait into an also-ran. 

This fine dividing line is not easily detectable 

by our sense of smell. It is no secret that carp 

like salt. Add a little salt to your particles whilst 

they are cooking and you will end up with a 

rather different-tasting bait to the equivalent bait 

cooked without the salt. Yet to our sense of smell 

Hot Hemp with a 

sprinkling of corn. 

My fi rst capture of Conan 

the fi rst time I introduced 

Hot Hemp to the Mangrove. 

One of fi ve fi sh in a night. 

the two baits will appear the same. 

That last line may have prompted a few people 

to recall instances when they have seen someone 

catching more carp than they would consider the 

norm on what appeared to be the same bait as was 

being used by other anglers. 

I have experienced some incredible fishing on 

‘tweaked baits’. It is so simple to do and so obvious, 

I think, to make your bait stand out from that of 

other anglers, yet so few seem to bother. I guess 

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it is the idle age we live in. I can assure you the 

humble hempseed – which I have used more than 

any other bait over the years – can most definitely 

be improved. 

I was most fortunate to be using what is now 

commonly known as Hot Hemp (hemp with 

chilli flakes added) for quite a few years before 

the secret slipped out and hit the DVDs and 

magazines. I was using it on the Mangrove 

when almost every other angler was piling in 

straight hemp. The number of fish I seemed 

to be able to hold on the tweaked bait as 

opposed to what the anglers using straight 

hemp achieved got rather embarrassing really 

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(although I could live with it). Yes, they 

all caught carp, but I seemed to be able to 

hold them in my swim for much longer. The 

Mangrove at that time was very much a night 

and early morning water, yet I would still be 

getting takes at midday. 

The Hot Hemp was, and still is, an excellent 

bait, but once it has been done and used for 

a period of time on a water then it simply 

becomes just another bait. 


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Check the spice rack in 

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In hindsight I carried on using it for a lot 

longer than I perhaps should have done, but 

it was difficult not to, given of the fishing I’d 

experienced. 

Last year I went in with my Garlic Feast, which 

is a mixed particle bait flavoured, as the name 

suggests, with two different garlic products; 

one disperses well in the water, while the other 

stays on/in the bait. The bobbin action was like 

it used to be in the early days of the Hot Hemp. 

No doubt it will slow up by the end of this 

year but there are so many more combination 

possibilities out there that this should never be 

a problem. It is all a simple case of keeping an 

open mind and always trying to have something 

on the back burner, so to speak, ready to 

introduce to the fish. 

I have flavoured different particle baits with 

lots of different things over the years but must 

admit that items from our own food chain have 

generally been better and more effective than the 

many carp bait flavours available out there. The 

main problem with a lot of the artificial flavours 

in the tackle shops available to anglers are that 

many of them ‘burn/evaporate’ at pretty low heat 

You will need a shallow 

tray with no holes to 

sprout your own. 

From left to right: Sprouting chickpeas; 

Sprouting maple peas; Sprouting tares. 

levels. So, being boiled for 30 minutes isn’t going 

to do them an awful lot of good and certainly 

they won’t resemble the flavour you thought 

you were putting in. Yes, you can dribble a bit of 

flavour over the cooked particles once they have 

cooled off, but to get them to penetrate the skin 

of the bait you really need to be soaking them in 

the said flavour. Unless you have flavours with a 

good ‘stick-on’ ability most will wash off quite 

soon after going into the lake/river. Yes, you will 

create a ‘smell/taste’ in the water which could 

well attract the carp to the area but it can also 

confuse them as they move off trying to find the 

source of that smell/taste. 

I have used many different spices. Most of 

the powdered curry blends work well, garlic 

in its various forms is excellent, chilli I have 

mentioned, packet soups as well as tinned soups, 

gravy, Bovril, Marmite, various seasonings, 

different salts, peppers, stir fry and cooking 

sauces, drinks and so on. A walk around your 

local supermarket will reveal many different 

carp-catching items 

which have probably 

never been used on the 

water you are fishing. If 

you are after something 

just a little bit different 

then there is an awful 

lot out there in our 

own good old English 

supermarkets, not to 

mention some of the 

gems you can find in 

the Asian markets. 

It is all down to your 

imagination and a little 

experimentation. 

The beauty of 

experimenting with 

seed, bean, and pea 

baits is that they are 

all very cheap and if you go wrong you haven’t 

just wasted a small fortune on an expensive 

base mix. Basically speaking, I find the normal 

human grade-type products, such as those 

mentioned, to be much more effective for 

altering particles than the flavours generally 

offered to the angler. A lot of the human-type 

products are produced to withstand the heat 

required for the cooking of the bait. 

So, let’s now look at a few of the advanced-type 

baits I like to use. By ‘advanced’ I mean anything 

which isn’t simply brought to the boil in normal 

water, simmered for the relevant time span, then 

left to cool before use. 

“ 

Why bother going to all 

” 

that trouble when you 

can buy a jar of readyprepared 

particles that 

won’t go off in a hurry 

from a shop 

Sprouting Particles 

I love these, and can honestly say that I have 

never seen anyone else use them! 

Certainly, I have seen them mentioned in 

print on the odd rare occasion, but that is all. I 

guess we are again back to the idle age with this 

one as they need preparing a few days before you 

actually want to go fishing. Why bother going to 

all that trouble when you can buy a jar of readyprepared 

particles that won’t go off in a hurry 

from a shop The answer is simple – because they 

work extremely well, and, if you are desperate for 

something different to try, then here you have it. 

So, how do you prepare and produce a 

sprouting particle ready to fish with Firstly 

you need to get yourself a shallow tray with no 

holes in it. Sprinkle a layer of particles over the 

bottom of the tray so that they are only one-bait 

deep. If you make them two-baits deep and so on 

you will have problems as the beans/seeds/peas 

start to swell, because you will end up with just 

a few sprouting and a few remaining normal. 

Pour water over them so that they are only just 

covered. I prefer to use pond water for this or, 

if none is available, I use bottled water. Bottled 

water is very cheap and you know that your 

baits aren’t going to be soaking up a lot of the 

disinfectant-type smell which exists in the tap 

water in many areas. 

The next stage is to find somewhere which 

receives plenty of light. A window sill is ideal, or 

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I prefer to use pond 

water or bottled water. 

170gms outside in the full sun (but be careful the birds 

don’t come down and eat them all). Failing that, 

a room with a light on will do, although it takes 

160gms longer for them to sprout this way. 

Look at the tray, or trays, at regular intervals 

to check 150gms the water. You will find that raw 

120gms 

particles are very 140gms thirsty and soak up a lot of 

130gms 

liquid in the first few hours. This is the reason 

you need to presoak particles. It keeps the 

80gms 

You will find that if you 

cook some conventional 

deep-soaked baits at the 

90gms 

same time, the taste of the 

standard and the taste of the 

sprouted will be quite different. The sprouted 

100gms 

seeds taste sweeter and this is with nothing 

whatsoever added to it. Just nature’s own 

110gms attraction at work. 

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cooking times down to a minimum that way. If 

the liquid has gone, simply top it up then leave 

them again. They need to be sitting in water, but 

“ 

All I am getting at here 

” 

not completely 

submerged. 

How quickly 

the baits start 

to sprout will 

depend on how 

much light 

the baits have 

received. In 

bright conditions 

you should see them starting to sprout the 

following day. In duller conditions you could 

be waiting for a few days. Some particles, such 

as maple peas and chickpeas start to sprout 

very quickly. 

It’s up to you how far you leave the baits to 

sprout. Once you are happy with the change in 

the bait, simply transfer them to a pan and cook 

them in the conventional manner. 

is that dye strengths vary 

so much it will have to 

be a bit of trial and error 

on your part to decide 

the right amount 

Purchase your own 

bait pans – it does 

make for an easier life. 

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You will need a little 

trial and error to fi nd the 

strength of your dye. 

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Colouring Particles 

When colouring particles you are best doing 

this right from the soaking stage so that they 

draw the food dye into them, rather than a 

simple overcoat which will wash off much 

more quickly. Food dyes vary tremendously 

in strength. A lot of the 

dyes available to the angler 

have been cut with other 

ingredients to make them 

look better value for money 

than what they actually are. I 

fell foul of this one myself this 

last year. Anyone purchasing 

my Fruity Trifle boilies would 

have noticed a sudden change 

in colour earlier this year. I changed dye 

suppliers and put the dye in at exactly the same 

inclusion rate as I had always used but found 

that the baits came out a much deeper red. I 

had always produced the baits to look washedout 

in the past. However, having had no 

complaints, and a few people saying they liked 

the new colour, I decided to run with them in 

this slightly altered colour. If I had changed it 

a third time then I would have had 

a lot of explaining to do. 

All I am getting at here is that 

dye strengths vary so much it will 

have to be a bit of trial and error 

on your part to decide the right 

amount. As a rough guideline, start 

with the recommended dosage for 

boilies plus about a third again. If 

the inclusion rate is recommended 

at 12ml per kilo, add 16ml. Soak the 

baits for the normal length of time 

then bring to the boil and simmer 

as usual. A piece of advice here 

– you may want to purchase your 

own pans for this purpose rather 

than borrowing the ones out of the 

kitchen because it does make for an 

easier, less dramatic home life! 

Flavouring Particles 

This depends very much upon what 

you are flavouring the particles 

with. So, I will break this one down 

into sections. 

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Thinner Liquids, Such 

as Drinks, Diluted 

Bovril, Diluted Carp Bait 

Flavours, etc. 

These I incorporate right from the 

off during the soaking stage. There 

are a lot of drinks out there which can 

be soaked into your baits. If you look at a 

dilute-type drink, then dilute it first to the same 

levels as you would drink it. If using something 

such as Bovril, again, first of all make it up to 

the strength you would make it for you to drink 

then leave the baits soaking in the liquid in the 

conventional manner before bringing them to the 

boil and simmering until thoroughly cooked. 

On those rare occasions I try to flavour particle 

baits with an artificial flavour sold for boiliemaking, 

I first dilute this into cold water, first 

making sure that the flavour isn’t oil-based as this 

will simply separate and float on the surface of 

the water. The particle baits are then left to soak 

the flavour right into the core before the cooking 

stage. Again, finding the flavours suitable for this 

is a case of trial and error. Many burn away once 

subjected to the amount of constant heat required 

for full cooking of particles, so in some cases you 

can find yourself using an expensive flavour which 

is non-existent by the time the bait is prepared. 

Again, flavour and water combination levels 

are very much a matter of trial and error as the 

concentrations of flavour can vary so much. 

Similar to the recommended dye inclusion 

rates, go along with the same amount of 

flavour as recommended for boilie use then 

add another third. This will give you a starting 

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BAIT QUEST 

Thick Liquids Such as Tinned Soups, etc. 

I prefer to presoak my baits for half the usual 

time in water to speed up the process. Leave dry 

particles in a soup and you will be waiting for ever 

for them to finish soaking up the liquid. You can 

cook them raw in the soup but you will be waiting 

a long time for the baits to soften and take on 

enough liquid to make them safe enough to fish 

with. If you do go down this route, keep checking 

the bait by breaking it in half and checking there 

is no obvious dryness inside the bean/pea 

and that it is fully cooked through, just 

as you would if you were preparing 

them for your own consumption. 

I have done well 

with mackerel. 

Chilli fl akes. 

20gms 

Curry Powders, Gravy Powders, Packet 

Seasonings, Salts, Peppers, etc. 

All these I add just before the boiling stage once 

the particles have had a good soak. The majority 

of these don’t mix very well with cold water so 

I see little point in adding them at the 

soaking stage. As with all the other 

methods mentioned, I keep the 

baits in the same water as 

they were cooked 

in right up to 

the point of 

introducing 

them to the 

carp. There 

will be a lot of 

attraction in that liquid. 

If the situation allows, I 

will also pour the liquid 

around the area I am fishing 

after putting in the free baits. 

For marginal swims, a scoop on 

the end of a long landing net handle 

or a pole with the top sections removed, is very 

handy, as is a boat for more distant areas. 

“ 

If anyone noticed 

the small red bits in 

the bucket of hemp 

I would act the daft 

lad and say I had 

purchased sweetcorn 

with red peppers 

instead of plain 

” 

sweetcorn by accident 

Garlic, Chilli and Tinned Fish. 

I used the chilli hemp (Hot Hemp) I mentioned 

earlier for years. I never used to add the chilli until 

the hemp was cooked. The number one reason for 

this was that I used to use part of the hemp juice 

to rehydrate air-dried boilies and I didn’t want the 

chilli in the boilies. 

Once the hemp was ready I would measure 

off the amount of hemp juice I required for my 

boilies then add the chilli to the hemp while the 

water was still very hot. This worked so well that I 

never bothered to experiment with any other way 

of preparation. I know some anglers 

cook it into their hemp, but I never 

did and it made a huge difference to 

my captures so, as I said, I didn’t 

experiment further. 

For what it is worth 

I tried quite a few 

different type of chilli 

products, including actual 

chillies, but found that 

straightforward chilli flakes 

were the easiest to use and 

measure, and they were 

certainly very effective. 

So, again, I stopped 

Make up as you 

would for yourself. 

experimenting at that stage. 

To try to keep the method quiet for as long as 

possible I used to add a small tin of sweetcorn to 

the chilli hemp once the hot water had cooled, 

then if anyone noticed the small red bits in the 

bucket of hemp I would act the daft lad and say I 

had purchased sweetcorn with red peppers instead 

of plain sweetcorn by accident. I got away with 

this for a few years at the place I was fishing, and 

was the only one using it. Sometimes it pays to be 

slightly conservative with the truth – not telling 

the whole story is very different to blatant lying. 

I use a blend of garlic powders in my Garlic 

Feast particle mix. Again, I add this the moment 

I take the baits off the boil. One part of the garlic 

sticks to the bait and the other part spreads nicely 

in the water. Everywhere I have taken this mix it 

has been accepted by the carp from the word go. 

Again, if you can get some of that liquid in the 

swim as well… 

Tins of tuna have become a popular addition 

in more recent years but don’t draw the line there. 

I have done well with mackerel, both in natural 

form and in various sauces. Again, there are a lot of 

possibilities just waiting to be tried. 

Flavouring Mixers and Floating Pellets 

Most pellet-type baits will take a flavour and 

colour quite well. This is where I do turn to the 

conventional carp bait flavours as we don’t need 

any flavour-destroying heat to do the job. 

Choose whatever flavour you want and stick 

by the recommended inclusion rate on the bottle 

but substitute the boilie mix weight for the same 

weight in mixers. Add this flavour to a polythene 

bag (without holes), add the 

Flavouring pellets. 

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and yours truly. 


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Cooking Particles Presoak Boil 

Standard Hempseed Overnight Until it splits 

Big Hemp Overnight Until it splits 

Tares Overnight 30 minutes 

Wheat Overnight 15 minutes 

Mixed Seed Aniseed Overnight 30 minutes 

Mixed Seed Standard Overnight 30 minutes 

Garlic Feast 24 hours 30 minutes 

Dark Seed Mix Overnight 30 minutes 

Mini Tiger Nuts 24 hours 30 minutes 

Standard Tiger Nuts 24 hours 30 minutes 

Jumbo Tiger Nuts 24 hours 30 minutes 

Maize 24 hours 30 minutes 

Groats Not necessary 5 minutes 

Black-eyed Beans Overnight 30 minutes 

Pinto Beans Overnight 30 minutes 

Chickpeas Overnight 30 minutes 

Maple Peas Overnight 30 minutes 

mixers, then shake the whole lot until all the 

mixers look as though they are damp. If some still 

look dry and the inside of the bag looks dry, add 

a little water and repeat the process until all the 

mixers look damp but not dripping wet, then it 

is a simple case of leaving them for a few hours to 

allow the flavour to penetrate into them. 

Mixing and Matching the Mehdi 

Daho Way 

What did I say at the start of this piece – in the 

very first paragraph 

I choose only to write about the things I have 

experience of, rather than give you second-hand 

information from someone else. 

Right then, it looks as though that’s all about 

to go out of the window. Well, not completely. 

Since being given the information I have started to 

experiment along similar paths. 

My very good friend Mehdi Daho, owner of 

Laroussi and Old Oaks near Le Mans in France, 

let me into one of his little secrets 

whilst I was fishing with him last 

year, which was that he likes to mix 

and match his particle juices. 

Many years ago I discovered the 

benefits of soaking my air-dried 

boilies in cooked hemp juice, but I 

must admit to not doing a lot else 

with the juice until I spoke to Mehdi. 

He cooks his hempseed before 

anything else then drains off the 

juice and uses it to cook any other 

particle bait he may be preparing. 

This certainly got my brain ticking 

with the endless possibilities. Hempflavoured 

black-eyed beans came to 

mind immediately. Mehdi did some 

experimenting with hemp juicesoaked 

and cooked tiger nuts – as he 

says, all the sugars and slime of the 

tiger nut but also oozing hemp juice too! 

“I feel that the use of 

particle baits has gone 

down a similar path 

to that of the floater 

little experimentation is 

going on these days 

angler whereby very 

” 

Living in France, on many of the waters he 

fishes Mehdi has to try to combat the attentions 

of poisson chat. He found out many years ago that 

the poisson chat don’t like the taste of peanuts 

and he’s used this to his advantage by cooking 

his hempseed and mixed seed blends in the 

juice from cooked nuts and he now has far fewer 

problems from them. A brilliant method of using 

the taste of what is often a banned bait without 

actually introducing the bait. The birds will enjoy 

the nuts you have prepared while you are left to do 

battle with the carp. 

This mixing of juices between particles is 

one which I am still playing around with. I love 

the subtle differences rather than the drastic 

changes of a bait. These subtle differences often 

seem so irrelevant to us but can make a huge 

difference to the carp. 

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In Conclusion 

I feel that the use of particle baits has gone down 

a similar path to that of the floater angler whereby 

very little experimentation is going on these days. 

Yes, anglers still pile in the hemp and use the tigers; 

some more adventurous anglers use the mixed seed 

mixes which are available in many different forms, 

but so few seem to take the preparation side of it 

much further than a simple soak and a boil. Boy, 

are you missing out on something! 

Oh, I almost forgot – and I don’t know how I 

ever could – one of the most effective particle baits 

I have ever known, which carp will take from the 

off almost to the exclusion of any other bait, and 

which a lot of carp these days have never come 

across, is the easiest particle of them all to prepare. 

You open the tin and you use it. Yes, sweetcorn, 

one of the most effective baits of all time, and do 

you know what Sweetcorn sits in sugar and salt. 

Until next time, best fishes, 

Shaun Harrison. 

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Particle Fever - Quest Baits

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